Between Tessenjutsu and Kusarigamajutsu
by imagine.believe
Summary: Sakura Tachibana graduated from the Shin'ō Academy just after the defection of the three captains, and she found herself being placed in the Ninth Division. As Hisagi takes her under his wing, the female Shinigami finds herself falling for her superior officer. However, Hisagi is infatuated with Matsumoto. Will Sakura take a step back, or will she put up a fight?
1. First Days

_Hey all, this will be my first attempt at a Bleach fanfiction writing, so I really hope you will give me a chance on this ^^_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. But I own my OC, Sakura Tachibana as well as the plot of this story ^^_

_I hope you will enjoy this story ^^_

* * *

She had never expected to be assigned to the Ninth Division, especially after what had happened of its captain. The news of the defection of Captains Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen was already viral in the Shin'ō Academy, with now every graduate wondering what would happen to the three divisions—and those assigned to them.

Sakura Tachibana was not an exception. She had convinced herself she was going for the Fourth Division, being among those who excelled in their Kidō in her batch. Yet, here she was… in the Ninth Division.

Not that it was bad, though.

_If I'm not wrong… the lieutenant would be Lieutenant Hisagi. I wonder what kind of a man he was._

She sat in the room alongside the other new recruits of the division, all of them were obviously nervous.

Soon, the door was slid open and a man entered. Everyone in the room held their breaths; this young man of dark blue hair was wearing sleeveless shihakushō with a metallic choker around his neck and matching armbands around his muscular arms, tattoo of number '69' was etched on his scarred face and with his seemingly stern outlook… he looked like a punk to say the least.

"Welcome to the Ninth Division!" he greeted with a voice filled with a decent amount of authority, "I am Shūhei Hisagi, your lieutenant! From today onwards, all of you are member of this division!"

When he left the room, everyone let go of the breath they had been holding out of fear, and soon the room was filled with excited chattering.

"He looks like a bad boy!" Sakura could hear another female recruit voice. "But that makes him so _hot_!"

_Hot?_ She found herself wondering, _such a strange taste._

* * *

It didn't take long for Sakura to find out why she had been assigned to the Ninth Division: it was for her literary talent. Sakura was a senior editor of the academy magazine during her time in Shin'ō, and it appeared that the Ninth Division was the division responsible for the Seiretei Communication, so it was seen as fitting for her to be in that division upon her graduation. Soon, Sakura found herself being buried under unfinished articles and incomplete reports, yet she indeed found a certain kind of joy working with words, so she didn't mind that.

As the seat of captain was left vacant, so was the seat of editor-in-chief. Thus, Lieutenant Hisagi became the acting editor-in-chief of Seiretei Communication and Sakura, being assigned as a junior editor, found herself often looking for him for work reasons because all articles must pass through him before she could set it for publication. However, due to his busy schedule, Sakura found it hard to find him in the editorial office, so more often than not she would just leave the articles on his table and left for another work.

As she put yet another batch of articles for approval, she noticed that there was a lot of other paperwork due to be completed. From what she had heard from others, Lieutenant Hisagi had been doing both captain and lieutenant's share of work; he was doing the work of two all alone. Despite his punk-like appearance, he was apparently a very responsible man.

Sakura found herself wondering how was he holding up, with all those workloads.

* * *

In her spare time, Sakura would usually go for practice on her Zanjutsu alone in one of the hills overlooking Seiretei. Her Zanpakutō was in the form of a katana with a red handle and sakura-shaped tsuba.

She hadn't achieved her Shikai; one more reason for her to continually practice her Zanjutsu. She practiced the swings, parries, everything that she could think of using her sealed Zanpakutō.

Even since she was in the Academy, Zanjutsu wasn't exactly her forte. However, now she was a full-fledged Shinigami; there was no reason for her not to practice Zanjutsu.

"Hold the handle tighter," a voice suddenly said.

Sakura turned in surprise, and she saw Hisagi walked towards her. "Lieutenant Hisagi!" she exclaimed in surprise. This was actually her first time meeting him in person after she entered the division.

"You should hold your sword tighter," he repeated.

Sakura then remembered she was still practicing. She nodded and tightened her grip around the sword, and she began to swing again,

"Use your upper arms muscles to swing it down, then halfway switch to the lower arms muscles," he then unsheathed his own blade and did a swing—seemingly much stronger than hers. "Like this,"

Sakura nodded gingerly and tried to follow his example. Much to her surprise, when she looked up after a few swings, she found him smiling. "Yeah, you got it," he said approvingly.

Sakura took in a deep breath and braved herself, "Um, Lieutenant,"

"Hm?"

"Are you on your break?"

"Yeah."

"Then, I don't mean to offend you, but I think you should really rest," Sakura said carefully, "I mean, you already have a lot of work… don't bother yourself with my training."

"What are you saying?" Hisagi asked back, his tone was slightly raised, "You're Tachibana, right?"

"Uh, yes."

"Listen, Tachibana, ensuring your practice going well is also my responsibility."

"But you're on your break…"

"How about this? From now on, I will oversee your practice."

"Hah?!"

"We will meet here tomorrow, this time." Hisagi said, ignoring her, "If we make it official, then I won't be on my break."

Sakura was stunned.

That time, she never expected this to be the beginning of her journey.

* * *

_Okay, I know there's not much yet. But I promise you things will get more interesing later on!_

_Thanks for reading~_

_please rate and review ^^_


	2. Her Eyes

_StrangerInAStrangeWorld: thanks for the input! As for the title, although it seems to have no connection to the story now, it will in the later chapters. As for the details, I'll try to give more details as we go and I'm trying my best not to make Sakura into a Mary Sue. Again, thanks for the input! ^^_

* * *

If there were a secret Sakura Tachibana actively concealed, it would be her eyes. She had been a heterochromic for as long as she could remember; which meant she exhibited different eye colours. Her left eye was deep magenta in colour, while her right was teal.

She didn't know why her eyes were the way they were; but she could do nothing about it. At first she wasn't really bothered by this, but during her stay in Rukongai, she was picked on by bullies because of her eyes that they called 'weird'. Slowly, she began to believe it and took it as the truth. So she tried to conceal this fact by growing her fringe long enough and swept it aside to cover her left eye since she entered the Academy.

* * *

Hisagi kept his word. The next day, he came to the same hill at the same time. Much to his surprise, Sakura was already there, training.

"You're early," he commented.

"I wouldn't want you to wait if you did come," Sakura replied.

She then could see a slight hint of smile on his face. "You have good attitude."

Sakura bowed her head slightly, averting her eyes from his face. She then tightened her grip on her Zanpakutō and continued swinging, trying to consciously apply what he had told her yesterday.

"Try to plant your feet on the ground. You have to have a solid footing."

"Yessir!"

"Put more power into your arms!"

"Yessir!"

"Strike confidently!"

"Yessir!"

They trained until it was almost sunset, and by that time Sakura was already spent. She was drenched in sweat and her arms were sore. Even the movement to sheathe her blade caused her a shooting pain in her upper arms.

"Good job for today," Hisagi said nevertheless. "Tomorrow, you'll be on patrol duty, so I guess next training should be two days from now on."

"Thank you very much," Sakura replied, bowing politely.

"Let's go back to the barracks."

"Yessir."

As they walked from the hills towards the direction of the barracks, Sakura noted that despite his punk-like appearance, Shūhei Hisagi was actually almost the complete opposite of a punk. Walking half a step behind him, as she lifted her head Sakura could see his broad back being illuminated by the orange sunset.

Somehow, she felt safe.

_Was this the aura of a lieutenant?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone's loud voice calling for the said officer, "Shūhei!"

Then she saw a female Shinigami with long, wavy strawberry blond hair that reached her waist, and a pair of clear, brilliant blue eyes waving towards them. She walked alongside another male Shinigami with pale blond hair whose fringe covered his left eye and looked so gloomy.

"Rangiku," Hisagi greeted with a slight blush on his face that didn't escape Sakura's notice. "And Izuru."

"Done for the day?" the female Shinigami asked, before she noticed Sakura's presence. "Aw~ who's this cute girl?"

Sakura bowed her head, "I am Sakura Tachibana from Ninth Division. Nice to meet you."

"Hi! I'm Rangiku Matsumoto, Lieutenant of Tenth Division!" she introduced herself in a very lively way. She then peered at her, "Hey, isn't it hard to see if you cover your eyes that way?"

Matsumoto reached out for Sakura's fringe, and Sakura reflexively dodged her, "No! It's okay, I'm perfectly fine!"

"Geez, don't be like Izuru!" she chided half-jokingly, "but you have good reflexes for a new recruit, I must say."

The other Shinigami didn't say anything; he simply stared at her. "She seems promising," he finally spoke.

"Yeah," Hisagi agreed, much to Sakura's surprise. "She's a fast learner."

Hisagi then turned at Sakura, "He is Izuru Kira, the Lieutenant of Third Division."

"Shūhei, how about a drink after this?" Matsumoto asked.

For the first time since her assignment in the division, Sakura saw Hisagi flustered. "Uh… yeah, sure."

"Great! We'll be waiting for you at the usual place, then!"

Matsumoto walked away with Kira as she waved her hand, "See ya later!"

Hisagi waved his hand back gingerly.

It wasn't hard to tell that he had a crush on Lieutenant Matsumoto. Even with only one eye uncovered, Sakura could see as much.

That didn't bother her at all; at least it didn't that time.

* * *

She was assigned for a patrol in District 40 of North Rukongai, with the 4th Seat as the team leader. Compared to where she originated, District 40 was relatively peaceful; at least they wore proper kimono and sandals.

"We've received reports that Hollow attacks has intensified in this area, so we should be careful."

"Yes, sir," the group replied.

They split up midways, with Sakura went with Todo, another new recruit. He seemed to be an awkward young man, constantly fiddling with his fingers, which didn't bother Sakura at all.

Her only focus was to finish the patrol.

"H-hey," suddenly Todo spoke up, "how's life?"

"Um… it's okay, I guess?"

"I saw you with the Lieutenant yesterday…"

Sakura was rather surprised by his statement; she had never thought it mattered a lot.

However, before she said anything else, they were interrupted by a loud scream. Sakura was immediately alarmed by this, "Todo, let's go!"

"Y-yeah!"

When they reached the source of the noise, she saw a group of three frog-like Hollows was attacking the residents, taking a child—no older than five—as a hostage.

"We have to secure the child first!" Sakura said.

Sakura took out her Zanpakutō and charged at the direction of the Hollow that kept the child hostage. She took a deep breath, and she recalled what Hisagi had taught her:

_Hold your sword tighter._

_Strike confidently!_

With one sure swing of her arms, she managed to cut off the arm of the said Hollow, and she immediately caught the child before he fell to the ground. When Sakura realised what she had accomplished, it felt like a load was lifted from her heart, but she knew she was far from done yet. She handed the child over to a nearby woman and told them to run away along with others and she faced the Hollow back. The Hollow, looked like a disgustingly thin frog with long limbs and face that was elongated sideways, stared at her through its hollowed eyes and made a grunt-like noise.

Obviously it wasn't pleased to have one of its arms being cut down.

Todo tried to attack the handicapped Hollow, but the Hollow noticed him and strike back, sending him flying and his Zanpakutō off his hand.

"Todo!"

The Hollow shifted its gaze at her again, and Sakura immediately raised her blade and charged once again, this time aiming for its head. Again, Hisagi's voice echoed in her mind.

_Strike confidently!_

She cried out as she jumped and swung her arms upwards. It slashed across the white Hollow mask on its head, and soon one of the Hollow turned into dust.

"Yeah!"

Her happiness didn't last long, because the moment she was distracted, another Hollow slashed her arm with its claws. In retaliation, Sakura raised her other arm and yelled:

"Hadō #31, Shakkahō!"

A red sphere emerged from her palm and hit the Hollow head on just as she wished. However, it wasn't enough to bring it down. If not, the Hollow was further angered by her attack.

"Shit!"

Blood dripped from her injured arm, and it was painful as hell. She looked around; Todo was struggling to get back on his feet, but his efforts were rendered useless by the other Hollow who stomped on him. Looking at that scene, Sakura raised her uninjured arm towards that Hollow, hoping that she wouldn't miss the aim, and once again shouted, "Shakkahō!"

That managed to prevent Todo from being killed, but that caused both Hollows to target Sakura, which wasn't a good thing. Sakura knew, at this rate, she wouldn't be able to hold on her blade for long. Thus, she dashed towards the Hollow nearest to her and made one large slashing movement as she leapt upwards, turning the second Hollow to dust at the next moment. However, that was also the moment she lost grip of her sword, and much to her horror, her blade was dropped just in front of the last Hollow.

Sakura raised her arm and took a deep breath. She had to bet on this, so she couldn't mess up. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"

A red sphere in which Sakura gave a lot of her reitasu was soon formed before her palm. She took another breath and yelled, "Hadō #31, Shakkahō!"

This time, she managed to shoot a large pillar of energy and knocked the Hollow several hundred metres away. Sakura immediately ran and took her blade, but truth to be told, she was exhausted. She wasn't sure whether she could hold her blade as firmly as she should.

Just as she caught on her breath, the Hollow managed to get back on its feet again and dashed towards them.

_Shit!_

Just as she raised her hand, preparing to shoot another Shakkahō, suddenly the Hollow turned into dust and she saw the 4th Seat with his blade drawn after the dust dissipated.

"4th Seat!"

"Sorry I took quite long," he said, "I sensed Todo's reitasu being injured and I tried to get here as quickly as I could."

"I'm sorry for bothering you!"

"No, no, good job fighting those Hollows, Tachibana."

* * *

"Huh? Special training?"

The next morning, Sakura was called by Hisagi and he mentioned about her being chosen to undergo a special joint-training.

"Yes," Hisagi replied, "The Captain-Commander issued for this special joint training so that we will be more battle ready. Each division are to send three of its member, and we will send you as one of the representative from Ninth Division."

"But… why me?"

"I heard about your fight yesterday," he said, "and remember what I said about you being a promising Shinigami? I meant it, Tachibana."

Her heart fluttered. Did the lieutenant just commend her ability?

"Don't let this division down, Tachibana,"

Sakura was filled with a newfound rigour. She bowed deeply and said, "Yes, sir!" with an unprecedented amount of zeal.

Hisagi said that she shouldn't let the division down, but actually, the one that Sakura didn't want to disappoint was the lieutenant himself, who had put his faith into her abilities.

* * *

_With Sakura's growing respect... and maybe some feelings towards Hisagi, she was determined to prove her worth._

_How will the training go?_

_Stay tuned to find out!_

_Thanks for reading! Please rate and review!_


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